News and Notes:  News Release
August 24, 2007

Topeka: Planning retreat kicks off the KLFA 07-08 school year

High-quality public schools give every child from every family the chance to learn the skills they need to be successful in life.  It is that knowledge that helps fuel the Kansas Learning First Alliance’s commitment to improve the education system in the state.  To increase its ability to speak with a common voice representative of its extensive membership and to generate tools to improve teaching and learning, KLFA members participated in a strategic planning retreat Aug. 23 and 24. The Kansas State Historical Society donated the use of its facilities at the Kansas Museum of History in Topeka; the United School Administrators hosted a Thursday night social gathering; and the Kansas National Education Association hosted Friday’s breakfast as well as arranging for the services of a facilitator from Washington, D.C.  Over 50 people from 25 of the 30 active organizations attended one or both days, including Education Commissioner Alexa Posny and Kansas State Board of Education members Sue Gamble and Kathy Martin.

The retreat focused on answering four broad questions:

• What is the vision that directs our work?

• What are the values that guide our work?

• What is the mission that defines our work? and

• What are the goal areas that are essential to our success?

The material that was generated at the retreat will be used at the next meeting, Oct. 4, to revisit the current mission statement of “Making Kansas first in the nation in teaching and learning.”  It will also be used to revise, if necessary, the current use of three workgroups that are charged with addressing the three identified goal areas.

Since its inception in 1999, KLFA, an affiliate of the Learning First Alliance, which is composed of 17 national education organizations, has used three working groups to achieve its mission.  The three groups are working toward improving student achievement; strengthening the professional development of educators; and engaging the public in school improvement and student achievement efforts. To focus their work, three general goals offer guidance.  They are:

• KLFA will broadly disseminate our work to influence practitioners.
• KLFA will increase its visibility among policy makers. 
• KLFA will strengthen and increase its organizational capacity.

Dr. Blake West, K-NEA president, serves as chair of KLFA, and Sue Givens, superintendent at El Dorado USD 490, serves as vice chair.  Each is a two-year term.

For more information on KLFA, visit its Web site at www.kansaslearningfirst.org.  The next meeting will be at the Kansas Association of School Boards’ office.